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Akerke Baibergenova, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON The most common reason patients are admitted to hospital with skin complaints is the skin infection called cellulitis. However, other skin conditions that are not caused by infection can look like cellulitis. Since differences are subtle and cellulitis is much more common than other skin conditions that mimic it, it is possible that cellulitis is overdiagnosed by doctors who are not specilized in skin or infectious diseases. This misdiagnosis could lead to wrong treatment such as inappropriate hospital admission, unnecessary use of antibiotics and delayed start of appropriate treatment. In our study, we will look at 5-year hospitalization records of patients who were admitted to hospital for cellulitis. We will compared the intial (admission) diagnosis and final (discharge) diagnosis to see how frequently initial diagnosis of cellulitis is changed. We will also compare the use of consultant services, such Skin specialists (dermatology) and Infectious Diseases specialists, among those patients who may have had a change in the diagnosis, to better understand how consultants may influence the change in the diagnosis. This study will help us to estimate the degree of misdiagnosis of cellulitis and design educational materials for physicians who are not specialized in skin diseases, to enable them to differentiate true cellulitis from skin conditions that mimic cellulitis. © 2010 |
